ASC: A Soccer Column

The More Things Change….

Welcome to ASC: A Soccer Column (or, by its full name, Alexander Scott Campbell: A Soccer Column), a weekly column on an issue of the day in the world of soccer. In lieu of reporting on the Chicago Fire for MLSsoccer.com during this era of COVID, this blog will be my way of writing and choosing topics of interest to me and I hope you as well.

 Defensive lapses leading to goals, inability to finish chances, dominating possession for long stretches of the game only to come out on the wrong end of the score-line, Designated Players drawing question of if they’re worth the money that was and is being paid for them.

 Is this the 2020 Fire or the 2019 version? Literally almost everything about this team has changed. The owner, the stadium, the general manager, the head coach, most of the playing squad, the TV channel, the broadcasters. Everything. And yet….

While 2020 has been difficult for everyone, including professional soccer teams, the 2020 Fire experience has felt eerily similar to years past.

There are the bright spots that give reason for hope, that maybe the team is finally putting things together (last year’s demolition of Atlanta United, the recent home-opener at Soldier Field vs FC Cincinnati), only for things to come crashing back to Earth soon after. The team does a lot of things right, they look and feel like a good team, but after every game the coach comes to the podium and says the same thing (and acknowledges the repetition!)

 The team needs to just keep working hard. We need to finish our chances. We need to be sharper at the back.

 Now, these might just sound like the classic soccer coach-speak answers. And to a degree they are, but for those who follow the Fire the similarities between what Veljko Paunovic said last year and what Raphael Wicky is saying this year are hard to ignore (I don’t mean this as a criticism of either of them, for what it’s worth).

 There have certainly been bright spots: Alvaro Medran and Gaston Gimenez have developed a strong partnership in midfield; Bobby Shuttleworth has proven to be a reliable backup goalkeeper; Miguel Navarro looks like a phenomenal prospect at LB who can both be an important contributor now and maybe make the club a profit someday; Ignacio Aliseda is starting to show flashes of why the Fire made him a DP.

 But all this adds up to just 8 points from 9 games. Last season: 32 points from 34 games.

 I am not here to present immediate solutions. In a year where 10 Eastern Conference teams will make the expanded playoffs, the Fire are only two points out of a playoff spot right now and it is certainly not time to hit the panic button.

 CJ Sapong will soon be back from paternity leave after re-quarantining. Johan Kappelhof will be healthy at some point and provide defensive depth. Aliseda will continue to develop. It is perfectly reasonable to think that all this team needs is more time. So much is new, and 2020 has certainly thrown a wrench into an already complicated and complex project.

 But for a fanbase that hoped they had finally moved on from years of ‘good but not good enough,’ patience is not a virtue they anticipated needing this badly.

PS: I am working on a ‘logo’ of sorts for this column to make it look more professional. Also, this column will not focus on just Chicago stuff (though it will certainly be a topic from time to time)